Chapter 14- No luck and no victory…
Claudia and her new squad were formed up outside of Squad 3's barracks, in ranks. And even now, as they were waiting for the transports trucks to arrive, Claudia could feel the numerous eyes glaring at her. But she shook that thought away as she looked over at Elisa, to her right. She now had a sniper rifle slung over her shoulder; she looked and smiled back at Claudia. She then turned her head to the left and smiled at Ellen, who blushed slightly, then smiled just a little bit before looking forward. Claudia still could not understand why she was still so timid, shy and quiet even after they agreed to become friends.
But just then, she heard the sound of many large and rumbling transport trucks approaching and after looking down the road, she saw the lieutenant of squad 3. His blue, red and white tank was leading the entire convoy towards the barracks.
Soon after, the 4 large transports that were lined up behind the squad leader's tank came to a halt in front of the barracks, but no one moved just yet. And as they waited, the Squad leader appeared, climbing out of his tank and jumping down from it, in front of his formed up troops. Everyone assumed the position of attention and waited for their orders.
"Alright, it seems that today, we're assigned to the Barious desert," said the lieutenant with a sigh. And that sigh was joined in with numerous groans and moans from the other squad members, they too were clearly disappointed as well.
"Furthermore, we're asked to reinforce Squad 7," The lieutenant continued. "Seems even the 7's can bite off more than they can chew. They've encountered some heavy resistance in the desert, an entire company of Imperial soldiers, accompanied by a large number of enemy tanks. They've called in additional squads, one of them being us and the other being Squad 1. Let's just hope their lucks last a lot longer than in Kloden."
This caused some laughter and chuckles from the near 40 soldiers in Squad 3, all except Elisa and Ellen and most of all Claudia, her face was beat red with anger, but she kept quiet.
"That is all, climb aboard the transports and let's get this show on the road!" the Lieutenant ordered. He too climbed into his tank and it lurched forward and began to drive to the front of the column, rumbling loudly. More tanks followed behind as all of the soldiers climbed aboard the awaiting troop transport trucks.
Claudia finally found a sitting place, in the last truck at the very back, right beside the tailgate no less. And for most of the drive she could feel the glares of her fellow squad mates. And she was sure they were going to keep an extra close eye on both her and the two Imperial girls that day.
But as the drive continued Claudia placed her head against the beam behind her that held the giant flap and closed her eyes.
"At least this will give me a chance to see both Squad 1 and Squad 7 again," Claudia thought with a grin. "I'll finally get to see Nadine, Jane, Wendy, Marina and even Vyse and Aika once more. And of course, I could never forget Catherine O'Hara."
And without realizing it, Claudia fell asleep, the bouncing of the truck kind of acted like a rocking chair, or even though she was embarrassed to admit, like a giant crib that rocked her to sleep.
Sometime later, Claudia was awakened by the truck suddenly coming to stop that send her limp, half asleep body flying into Ellen who was sitting next to her.
She smiled, "We're here…" she said.
"What…" Claudia said. She was still groggy, and now her head felt kind of funny. But as she looked out of the tail gate, she saw that it was getting into the late afternoon, but the sun was still quite high in the sky. But now it was scorching hot out.
Soldiers across from Claudia were already climbing out of the truck, but Claudia was still sluggish, and didn't move.
"Quit holding up the line!" a female soldier down the row of seats shouted.
A male soldier next to Elisa was pressing the butt of his rifle against her shoulder, trying to get her to move. And now, even she reached around Ellen and pushed Claudia towards the exit.
Claudia finally gave her head a shake, attempting to wake up. And now she climbed out and looked around. And for as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but vast open desert, with scorching sands, distant rock formations and a blazing sun overhead. And as she rounded the truck to the front, she saw a camp that was in the process of being set up by another squad. Curious, Claudia walked towards it and finally saw a blue, red and white Gallian tank with a large, yellow Number 1 painted on its hull.
Claudia smiled and began to walk with the rest of the column of soldiers towards the encampment. The soldiers from Squad 1 were setting up large tents, sandbag defences and placing large calibre machine guns in various positions on the outskirts of the camp.
And together Squad 3 entered the camp and soldiers began to spread out, the leader of Squad 3 looked around for the leader of Squad 1, to report in and find out what both he and his unit were supposed to do.
Claudia stopped and looked around with a hand against her eyebrows, to shield out the blazing suns light overhead and help her see better. And she found Nadine working on the Squad leader's tank. She smiled and was just about to make her way over to her, but a hand planted itself on her shoulder. She jumped a little bit and turned around, into the glaring eyes of her squad leader.
"You take those two and start unloading the trucks," he ordered. At the same time, gesturing with his head towards Ellen and Elisa, the ones who were supposed to help her with this task.
Claudia looked around, but no one else was making their way towards the trucks, quite the opposite, they were moving away from them.
"Just the three of us?" Claudia asked
"You want a chance to prove your loyalty? Then start unloading the trucks," he ordered. "Probably take all day, but I want it done right and I want it done quickly!"
Claudia looked past her Squad leader and finally saw Nadine on her feet and looking in what looked like disbelief at seeing her old friend, Claudia once again. But sadly, there was no time for a reunion now, she had her orders and as much as she hated it, she obeyed and turned, making her way towards Ellen and Elisa who were chatting together.
And like he stated before he watched Claudia walk towards the two Imperial girls with a very close eye. He continued to watch as she explained the orders, but neither groaned and showed any real sort of displeasure.
Instead Elisa looked toward him, gave a salute and shouted "Your obedient servant sir!"
All three girls then made their way towards the trucks, Claudia unbuckling her tool belt and backpack, setting them aside so she could help out. But unlike the other girls, as soon as the flap was moved aside from the truck bed Claudia released a long, angry groan at the sight of the many numerous boxes and crates of all sizes loaded in the back of this truck.
But not wanting to disappoint her new squad leader, she set to work with the other girls and began to unload the supplies and set them up inside of the camp. It was tough, back breaking labour for just 3 girls to do, but they kept at it.
And 2 hours into the work, Claudia set down a large crate containing ammo and leaned against it. One hand was held against her back, the other against the crate, supporting her. Sweat dripped down the sides of her cheeks, the tips of her hair and down into the sand. She breathed hard as she reached down to her canteen and began to unscrew the cap, taking a short 5 minute breather.
But as she tipped the canteen towards her open mouth, only a few drops came out. Claudia gave it a shake, thinking somehow that might help, but it didn't and she lowered her head. The work was made that much more difficult by the scorching hot sun overhead and the humidity of the day. It was yet another new experience for Claudia, being in a desert and its unforgiving terrain and conditions.
But as she held her head down and let the sweat drip off her face, she felt a hand against her shoulder. And as she raised her head, she saw another canteen being held out to her, as she looked up even more she saw two faces. One had two black marks under her eyes and a wool knit cap on her head, why she'd wear something like that out in the desert was crazy for one. But Claudia recognized that it belonged to Wendy Cheslock, she was the one holding the canteen out to her. The other was Jane Turner, her face still as pale as ever, maybe she couldn't get a tan even if she tried. Her eyes were still the same serpent like eyes she remembered and she smiled her slightly creepy smile at her.
"Wendy? Jane?" Claudia asked. Just to confirm that it really was those two girls.
"What up, girl?" Wendy asked, releasing a trademark snicker right after.
"Well, well, look at what the cat dragged in," Jane said with a chuckle. She then slapped Claudia hard on the shoulder. "Where the hell have you been?"
Claudia smiled as she took the canteen. But before she answered the girls, she tipped it back, drinking fast and greedily. But in the process, some water escaped either side of her mouth and dripped down onto her blue uniform, slightly cooling her sweat soaked chest, which felt good.
She then moved the canteen away and wiped her lips with the back of her sleeve. Wendy and Jane looked at each other as Claudia handed the canteen back to Wendy. Wendy gave her canteen a shake and found that there was still just a little bit of water left. So she looked over at Jane and raised an eyebrow, she responded with a grin and a nod as well.
And Wendy turned the canteen over; right over the top of Claudia's head and dumped the remaining contents over her sweat filled hair and head. Claudia released a slight yelp of surprise then began to laugh, for it felt cool and soothing after all her hard work.
"You looked like you could use it," Wendy said. Replacing the canteen back onto her belt, back inside its pouch.
"I believe we asked you a question," Jane stated once again.
"Sorry," said Claudia. She gave her wet hair a shake, water spraying in all directions as she did.
"About my late arrival… I apologize for that," said Claudia. Bowing apologetically, "But here I am, back in the militia."
Wendy and Jane nodded, but Wendy looked down at Claudia's uniform. "What's this?" Wendy asked. She was tracing the large number 3 on Claudia's uniform with her fingertip.
Claudia lowered her head, "My new squad assignment…"
Jane shook her head, "Man… that number does not suit you as well as 1 does."
"Yes… I know," Claudia replied with a sigh.
"Doesn't look like you're off to a good start either…" Wendy said, looking back at the Squad 3 supply trucks, which still had some ways to go before they were unpacked.
"I know… but there's nothing I can do," Claudia said. "Just have to work hard and hope I earn the respect of these people in Squad 3. But there was a time when I had to work to earn the respect of the soldiers of Squad 1 and… it was worth it."
Wendy grinned and snickered in response, Jane nodded her head while her arms were folded across her chest.
But suddenly, from behind them, "Get back to work, NOW!" Claudia's squad leader roared.
Claudia shuddered and both Jane and Wendy glared at him, before looking back down at Claudia.
"If you ever need some help with this asshole, just say the word," Jane said while pounding her right fist into her open left palm repeatedly.
"Indeed, I'm up for that as well," Wendy added with another snicker.
Claudia smiled, and then laughed. "Don't worry, I can handle him," she said. Finally standing up, tall and proper. "Nice to see you again, but I best be getting back to work."
And Claudia headed back, refilled with new energy after seeing her former roommates and fellow squad mates. And with that energy, she quickly helped unload the remaining supplies and set them inside the camp and took each to its proper location. Ragnaid for the aid station, provisions for the large dining facility tent, and everything in between.
And finally, after 4 hours of hard labour, they were finished. Claudia, Ellen and Elisa were sitting on some sandbags, new canteens in hand and were looking out in the vast expanse of the Barious desert. The entire base camp was now set up and filled with soldiers from all 3 squads, now that Squad 7 had arrived.
The sun was setting and it was getting darker, cooler, and quieter. It was almost an unsettling feeling; know that there were enough Imperials out there that even the Elite Squad 7 called for back up before moving deeper into the desert.
"It's so quiet…" Claudia finally said.
"Deserts usually are," Elisa said. "Not much lives or wants to live out here, so why the heck are so many Imperials doing in a place like this?"
"I was wondering that myself… guess we'll find out tomorrow." said Claudia.
Both of the girls looked down, "I'm thankful that I haven't had to kill any Imperial soldiers as of yet." Elisa said first.
"It will be difficult…" Ellen added.
"But if it means showing we fight for Gallian, we'll have to do it eventually…" Elisa said next.
Claudia nodded her head, "But we did well today, we showed them that we're up to the work."
And all three girls bid each other good night, but Elisa remained, looking out into the open desert. Ellen and Claudia headed straight for the temporary barracks for Squad 3. But Ellen's small green eyes were looking back and forth, at the surrounding encampment.
"This place is not as defensible as it should be…" she said quietly to herself.
"Hmmm… you say something?" Claudia asked. Her voice sounded extremely tired.
"Sorry… just thinking out loud…" Ellen said. Blushing slightly, she then tuned and walked off in another direction.
Claudia continued on towards the barracks. And as she walked, her eyelids were closing and becoming hard to keep open. She wanted to find the others, from her former squad and those from Squad 7 that she wanted to see as well. But she was too tired after the day's hard work, and once she found a cot, she pretty much collapsed right into it, closing her eyes and quickly drifting off to sleep.
The next morning the entire squad was gathered, for a meeting before moving out that day. All 40 members of the squad were in a large green army tent, the squad leader at the front, with a giant white map of the region and 3 large red arrows on the map. Each arrow represented an entire squad, one on the left flank, one in the middle and one on the right flank. Squad 3 was on the right; Squad 1 was in the center and Squad 7 on the far left flank. The plan was for all 3 squads to head away from the base, spreading out in the given directions on the map and scouts the area for any signs of the Imperials that were supposed to be in the area.
And with their new orders in hand, the 3's formed up into squads and set out into the desert all along the line of advance on the right flank.
About an hour into the search, Claudia was having a hard time dealing with the blazing hot sun, the scorching sands, and the rough terrain. Worse yet, she was carrying nearly half of her body weight in engineers gear, which didn't help much either. Her backpack was heavy, her back was sweaty from where the heavy pack pressed against, her tool belt was also very heavy and her tools clanked together loudly. And out of the other 9 people she was scouting the desert with; none of them were having as much trouble as she was.
The group turned left and began to head in a slow curve back to the rest of the squad, but Claudia was trailing in the back. Sadly, she wasn't with Ellen or Elisa during the patrol and none of the other squad members seemed to care that she was slowly falling back and getting left behind.
And as Claudia continued to force herself to walk forward, she looked down at her feet and saw just how uncoordinated her feet were. Step, wobble, step, wobble, wobble, step, nearly tripping, repeat.
So Claudia bent forward and rested her hands against her knees, breathing heavily, sweating profusely, and barely able to continue. She looked back up and saw that the others were still walking forward; leaving many footprints in the sand while she hung back. None of them bothered to look back or wait for her.
Her head was starting to ache, almost like a migraine. Then she remembered that she had concentrated so hard on trying to keep up with the others and not be a burden that she had neglected to properly hydrate herself, like she should have been doing out in the unforgiving desert conditions. She was also worried that she might have sweated out most of her bodies' water supply.
So she reached down while still panting and retrieved her water canteen, it still felt slightly cold to the touch, which caused her to smile. She quickly unscrewed the lid, licking her lips slightly. And with the cap off she began to tip the canteen back towards her eagerly awaiting mouth and parched throat.
PANG came a sudden and startling sound as a bullet struck her water canteen, knocking it straight out of her hands and falling into the sand. Its precious, live giving contents spilling out onto the scorching sands through the open cap and bullet hole.
"AMBUSH!" screamed one of the female soldiers from the patrol up ahead, which were already running back towards Claudia.
And a frighteningly similar line and memory flashed through Claudia's mind, "Ambush!" she remembered Jane shouting in the Kloden Wildwoods.
And as Claudia looked back to the patrol group that she was accompanying, she saw numerous enemy tanks coming out from behind tall rock formations, from which they were hiding behind. Distant, human shaped figures appearing from high up on the high rocks. Others were following on the ground along side the tank. Next she saw one of the approaching tanks barrels give out a bright flash and smoke, but didn't hear a bang just yet. A shell then exploded near her patrol group, knocking two of the retreating soldiers to the ground. A third, male soldier was struck by bullets in the back, two, then three times by the firing Imperial soldiers behind the group. The survivors continued to run towards Claudia.
"Oh… no, not again!" Claudia cried as she was caught in yet another enemy ambush, similar to the one in Kloden which had devastated her squad.
Panicked, she looked around quickly and found some nearby rocks and ran towards them, hopefully they'd give her and the others some cover, while they reported the enemy's position to the rest of the squad and waited for back-up.
Sadly only 5 of the 9 soldiers sent on the patrol group, of which she was included, survived and took cover with her behind the tall rocks. But the Imperials weren't coming, they remained where they were, but were still firing shells and bullets at them, what were they waiting for?
Despite all the sounds of the battle going on and one of the soldiers next to her, talking to the squad leader through a portable radio, while the others fired their guns and anti-tank lances at the enemy. Claudia held both sides of her head, which was throbbing immensely. She hadn't drunk anything for nearly 2 hours, had sweated profusely and her stress levels were high. She hated to admit it, but her head and thirst were bothering her worse than the actual battle was.
But not long after, the welcome view of her squad leader's tank, flanked by running friendly soldiers and 4 other tanks could be seen, coming over the nearby sand dunes. The Imperial soldiers who were attacking them began to pull back, for now they were slightly outnumbered. The Imp tanks reversed and took cover behind the nearby rock formations; the soldiers firing from the high up rocks disappeared from view as they backed up or took cover and the ground troops moved back with the tanks.
Claudia's group cheered as they ran to reunite with the rest of their squad, Claudia following behind, but now staggering, her vision getting blurry, her head throbbing and spinning.
The sergeant of Claudia's patrol ran to the squad leader, who had appeared from the tank hatch and looked down at the sergeant as he explained the situation. Claudia just remained standing, dazed and nearly out of it. She had sweated even more as they waited for help, lost her water at the start of the attack and didn't have any new water to drink just yet.
But some angry shouting caused her to look over, "That girl, right there!" The sergeant of the group shouted. "She stopped following us and hung back, just seconds before we were ambushed. It's like she knew what to expect. I bet that's why she didn't follow us!"
"What?" Claudia said softly. And already many heads were turned towards her, glaring and staring with accusing looks in their eyes, like it was her fault the whole thing happened.
Now even the lieutenant was glaring at her, he then looked around. "Where are the other Imperial girls and the group I sent them with?"
Everyone looked around, but neither Ellen nor Elisa could be seen, the soldiers they were with weren't present either, but everyone else was.
The Lieutenant of squad 3 then looked back at Claudia, anger burning in his eyes. He then reached down into his tank; half of his body was only visible from the tank hatch as he rummaged around for something. But once Claudia saw what he brought back up, she slowly began to back away.
"Start talking!" he ordered. Handgun now cocked back, round loaded into the chamber as he then pointed it at Claudia threateningly. "Why did you hang back just seconds before the enemy ambush?
"Sir I-" Claudia started. But she didn't have time to finish, before the next question was asked.
"Where are the other Imperial girls?" he asked next. Claudia took another step back in fear, now even the rest of the squad were beginning to cock the firing bolts to their guns and rifles back while glaring at Claudia.
"I don't-"
Again she didn't get to finish, "I warned you about what would happen if I ever suspected you of betraying us!"
He then pulled the handgun hammer back with his thumb, emitting a loud click as it was ready to fire now.
Claudia quickly shut her eyes tight in fear. But instead of a gunshot going off, she heard an extremely loud and shrill shrieking sound, coming from what sounded like far away, but quickly growing louder and getting closer. And Claudia only managed to open her eyes and look slightly to her right before she saw some kind of giant, spinning blue beam of light. She followed it with her eyes, but gasped in horror as she saw it strike her Lieutenants tank and then pass right through it. The beam itself continued on, but the blast wave that followed right behind it knocked all the troops off their feet and blew them away like the force of a hurricane wind.
Claudia fell too, but everything seem to start moving in slow motion as she kept her eyes on the tank as she was falling and for a moment, it still seemed fine. But suddenly, strange blue beams of light began to appear from all over the tank. From the hatch, through the drivers view port, through the barrel and every other opening and crevice from inside the tank. Then the tank exploded into a massive, massive fireball as bits and pieces of the tank flew in every single direction.
Thankfully Claudia had hit the ground by this time and didn't get hit by any flying shrapnel as she lay on her back, in the sand. But as she lay on the ground she could hear horrible shrieks and screams from all the soldiers around her. Panicked, she sat up and looked around, but her Lieutenants tank was gone, a mere burning pile of ash and some small fragments were all that remained of his tank. There were many, many injured soldiers all around her, calling for help or crying out in pain.
Another blue, swirling beam of light appeared and struck another tank in the distance. Some soldiers, who were standing near it, disappeared as soon as the beam hit them, not even leaving any remains or evidence that there were in fact soldiers there not even moments ago. The blue and white tank then exploded just like her Lieutenants tank did and was gone. Another tank nearby tried to back into reverse and make it over the nearby dune, but it didn't make it as yet another beam appeared and destroyed that tank as well.
"What is going on?" Claudia thought. Did the Imperials have some kind of advanced weaponry on their side and were unleashing it onto her and her poor squad.
Claudia looked to the Imperial side, but none of them were firing. They were simply standing still, watching the devastation taking place across from them. She couldn't see what they were using to cause so much havoc and destruction. But she didn't have time to worry about that, for someone on her side shouted, "Pull back!" and what remained of her squad and the tanks began to run or drive as fast as they could, fleeing the battlefield.
Claudia climbed to her feet and began to run with the others, she didn't dare look over her shoulder now as she ran with everything she had. Behind her another shrill, shrieking noise came and she looked to her right, seeing the last Gallian tank get hit with the same beam of light, it lit up in the strange blue light, then explode.
But this time, something very large struck Claudia really hard, right in the back. The force of the blow knocked her forward, face first into the sand. She spit some sand out of her mouth, but at the same time heard something sizzling, a burning sensation in her back as well.
"Oh no… I'm hit!" Claudia cried out to any nearby allies.
The burning began to intensify, squarely on her back. Claudia writhed on the ground in pain as she tried to tear her back pack off, but it wasn't budging. So still screaming, she reached down and retrieved her bayonet blade and hurriedly cut off one of her back pack shoulder straps off. She slide her other arm out from the other strap and rolled away from her back pack. She held one hand against her injured back, whimpering in pain and fear. But when she brought her hand back and looked down at it, she didn't see any blood or anything.
"What the…" Claudia said softly. She then looked toward her backpack and saw a very large piece of burning, jagged, metal shrapnel, sticking out of her backpack. It must have been thrown by the explosion of the last tank and hit her. Claudia's eyes then grew wide, realizing that had she not been wearing her very large backpack, that piece of shrapnel would have struck her bare, unprotected back and possibly have killed her… she couldn't believe her luck after thinking of that.
The most unwelcome sound of angry, shouting Imperials came next. And Claudia looked back from her position on the ground and saw the Imperials coming towards her. Now the Imp soldiers were firing at them, the tanks firing shells that exploded all around her.
Claudia tried to get back up to continue running, but a tank shell exploded a short distance away, right in front of her and she fell back onto her stomach as sand fell on top of her from the blast. She covered her head with her hands as more explosions, shouting and gunfire went on all around her.
Claudia slowly shook her head as she remained on the ground, cheek against the hot sand. "What's the use…? I can't get away anyway…" Claudia said softly. More sand fell on top of her as she lay on the ground.
The extreme fear that she was now feeling, combined with severe dehydration was causing her to start passing out. She blinked once, her eye lids feeling heavy. She blinked again, this time slower and everything began to get dark. She blinked once more, this time her eyes stayed closed and she lost all consciousness, the screams, gunfire and explosions becoming more distant and dull sounding.
A sudden, heavy thump against her shoulder finally woke Claudia up, but how much had passed... she didn't know. And she slowly rolled over onto her shoulder and looked up, right into the barrel of a rifle. An angry looking Imperial in grey armour kept his gun trained on her, but turned his head slightly and yelled over his shoulder.
"We've got a live one here!"
Another soldier appeared, now there were two of them both aiming their rifles down at Claudia. Claudia looked down at the ground in defeat; there was nothing she could do now.
But just then, "Bring her over here, to my tank," someone ordered. But the voice sounded kind of familiar, like she had heard it before.
The soldiers looked at each other for a moment, and then put their rifles over their shoulders by the slings. Each of them grabbed an arm and began to pull Claudia away, her legs dragging through the sand, her head held low, not even looking up anymore as the Imperials continued to carry her limp body away.
She was then dropped and was now in the shade of a massive shadow. Slowly she began to push her way up from the ground, the sound of someone dropping to the ground next to her startled her for a moment.
"Let me help you up my dear," a familiar, kind sounding voice said. And she looked up and saw the kind face of General Jaeger, one hand held out to her. She reached out and took his hand and he tried to help her up, but she was still too weak to stand. So instead her helped her into a sitting position and placed her back against the massive metal tread of his tank.
He knelt down on one knee, reached out and placed his hand under her chin and raised her head up to look at her. A worried expression spread over his face, "Get this girl some water!" he ordered.
Moments later a soldier in black armour, similar to the Imperials appeared carrying a large water canteen in hand. Which he then passed to General Jaeger, bowed while placing his fist against his chest in some kind of salute, then stepped back.
Jaeger unscrewed the cap and with one hand still under her chin, slowly tipped the canteen back and let her drink. But she took in too much water, too quickly and choked slightly, pushing the canteen away and coughing. Jaeger just smiled and placed the canteen of water next to her in the sand.
"We have got to stop meeting like this, Claudia Mann," he said while chuckling. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see you again and that you're still alive and well."
Claudia wiped her mouth, then looked up at General Jaeger and smiled thankfully.
"General Jaeger…" she said softly.
Jaeger smiled and nodded back, "Glad to see that you still remember me," he said with a smile.
Claudia slowly looked around the area, "Where is the rest of my squad?" she asked softly, still feeling weak.
General Jaeger held his head low, and then looked back up at Claudia a moment later. "I'm sorry Claudia, you're the only survivor we have found, and the rest… didn't make it."
Claudia looked extremely distraught now. "NO!" Claudia cried in anguish. "Not again… Not all of them…again…"
Jaeger reached out and placed a hand against Claudia's shoulder, "Calm down Claudia, it'll be alright…"
"General Jaeger! What are you doing?" a female voice shouted angrily.
Claudia looked past Jaeger and saw a tall female, with what looked like silver coloured hair, and burning red eyes. She must have been a high ranking officer; for she was dressed in a black officer's uniform, like the ones she had seen before. But her uniform was much more elaborate. It had golden Epaulettes on her shoulders; the kind high ranking officers wore. Which looked sort of like golden brush heads to Claudia? Her uniform also had a small, half cape, which was black on the outside, red on the inside. A high collared black officer's uniform with golden markings on the collar and black gloves on her hands. What was most surprising was that in her hands, she clutched what looked like a blue, spiral lance and shield. Whoever she was, she must have been someone of great importance, for even someone as high ranking as General Jaeger stood up and saluted her, but with a grin on his face.
"My apologies General Bles, was just tending to our Gallian prisoner here," he said. Gesturing to Claudia, with his open palm.
She glared at Claudia, "I thought I told you to show no quarter to the wounded, none shall live!"
"Now, Now Selvaria let us not be too hasty," Jaeger said. He then looked over at Claudia, "This young girl could be of some help to us."
"What do you mean?" Selvaria asked.
General Jaeger just knelt down and helped Claudia to her feet; he then placed his arm around Claudia. "She has witnessed with her own eyes, the power that you command as a Valkyria. Think of how demoralizing it would be, if she went back and told the others of what she had seen here, on this battlefield."
"I do not see the point of all of this, others shall soon see the power of the Valkyrur as well," Selvaria said. "We should just do away with this one and move on!"
But a loud radio communication came from within General Jaeger's tank, "This is Captain Kunze of the Batomys. We're currently under heavy attack from Militia Squad 7! They've disabled two of our three radiators and caused significant damage to the Batomys. We request reinforcements from any nearby allies; Lord Maximilian must be protected at all costs!"
Selvaria gasped, "His grace is in danger!" she said worriedly.
Jaeger shook his head, "Even the Batomys is having trouble against the infamous squad 7..." he said. But he then turned to Selvaria. "How about it General Bles? Should we continue to worry about this one, insignificant engineer, while Lord Maximilian is in danger?"
Selvaria shook her head, "We must rush to his majesties aid!" Selvaria shouted to the nearby Imperial soldiers and tanks gathered around her and General Jaeger. All of them raised their rifles, machine guns and lances and shouted in agreement in one loud uproar. Selvaria nodded, and then turned to Claudia Mann.
"So be it… take a message to your leaders and we shall allow you to live," she ordered. Claudia gulped nervously, but she nodded and waited, canteen still in hand. Selvaria then waved her large blue lance around the devastated area. "This is what awaits them, if they continue apposing Lord Maximilian. Tell them to surrender or face the wrath of the Valkyrur!"
Claudia was trembling, but managed to nod her head again, showing she understood her new orders. Selvaria just glared at Claudia for a moment, then turned to the rest of her soldiers. "To Lord Maximilian!" she shouted while pointing her blue, spiral lance forward. The soldiers then turned and began to run to where the Batomys was doing battle against Squad 7. The numerous tanks also leaving the area, Selvaria Bles hopped onto a nearby tank and joined them as well.
General Jaeger climbed up and began to get into his tank through the top hatch, but stopped and turned to Claudia. "Farewell Claudia, It was a pleasure to see you again. But let's both hope that we do not meet this way again!"
He smiled at her once more and then disappeared into his tank, closing the hatch. And finally his large, red and black tank began to drive away, leaving Claudia alone on the battlefield.
It was only now that Claudia began to look around at the sheer amount of destruction that that Valkyrian woman had caused, single-handedly no less. She dropped to her knees, tears forming in her eyes as she took in all of the carnage from the black, crater filled battlefield. She saw numerous dead bodies of those from squad 3 littered all across the battlefield. The destroyed, burning piles of wreckage of the Gallian tanks of Squad 3. And sadly, not one single survivor, she was all that remained once again from a squad of 40 other soldiers.
Finally, she climbed to her feet, put her large canteen of water given to her by General Jaeger over her shoulder and began the long, lonely walk back to the encampment, remembering the message from Selvaria Bles that she was to deliver.